AFGHANISTAN: Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund chaired a cabinet meeting on October 20 which considered a number of issues including the gauge for the proposed Trans-Afghanistan Railway.
In an official statement the Taliban government said the proposed railway would start at Hairatan on the border with Uzbekistan and run across Afghanistan to Spin Boldak on the border with Pakistan.
There is an existing freight yard at Hairatan, while Spin Boldak is close to the Pakistan Railways railhead across the border at Chaman.
At the meeting, the cabinet approved a report which recommended the adoption of the 1 520 mm gauge for the Trans-Afghanistan line, in preference to 1 435 mm gauge.
Gauge challenge
The choice of gauge has long been problematic when drawing up proposals to develop a national rail network in Afghanistan. Breaks of gauge are inconvenient, but the country’s neighbours use different gauges.
The existing railway from Hairatan to Mazar-i-Sharif and the two cross-border lines from Turkmenistan into Afghanistan use 1 520 mm broad gauge, which was adopted by the Russian empire and now forms an extensive and interoperable network across the former USSR as well as Mongolia and Finland.
The railway from Khaf in Iran to Rozanak in Afghanistan’s Herat province uses the 1 435 mm standard gauge found in Iran, China, most of Europe and North America.
Pakistan and India use 1 676 mm broad gauge.
